Hawkes at Ostagar
by Franavu
Summary: Marian and Carver Hawke, Grey Wardens. "Darkspawn blood? Why darkspawn blood? Oh, the Archdemon is a dragon, isn't it? A tainted dragon. And dragons don't really die normally, you'd need a dragonborn for that."


"Darkspawn blood? Why darkspawn blood? Oh, the Archdemon is a dragon, isn't it? A tainted dragon. And dragons don't really die normally, you'd need a dragonborn for that. But if the thing is tainted and if the soul travels with the taint...That's brilliant, horrifying, but brilliant. But a normal person wouldn't be able to absorb it. They'd...oh I see..."

"What are you talking about, Marian?"

"Duncan sent us out for darkspawn blood. The Archdemon is a dragon, but they had no dragonborn. They needed a way to kill it properly, but if the dragon is tainted and the soul travels with the taint, it would ordinarily go into another darkspawn, unless there was something else with a soul and a bit of darkspawn taint close enough..."

"Oh, eugh, that's disgusting."

"That it is, and bad for us, born with the soul of a dragon, remember, the Nine only know what darkspawn blood would do to us."

"Oh hell...I can see how that's a problem...should we tell Duncan?"

"He said there was no turning back, and I don't think we're supposed to know what I just thought up. It's just that we know a little bit more about dragons than most people, don't we?"

"Then what do we do, I don't want to turn into some kind of human Archdemon."

"Oh that won't be a problem, my favourite little mortals...hey is that cheese?"

"Lord Sheogorath...may I ask what brings you here?"

"Oh, I just wanted to reassure you you won't be turning into any kind of Archdemon, though it would certainly be funny...But it won't be a problem, you see there is only a teeny, tiny little bit of dragon soul attached to a dragon corpse, the rest is off and away in Aetherius. Hah...and it's only that leetle bit of soul that gets tainted and reanimated, that's why the Archdemon is so stupid and mad, and it's not the good kind of mad, I tell you, not my kind of mad, I wash my hands of it...Aanyways, since you two have an entire soul it won't be a problem, in fact the taint will be probably burnt away in a decade or so, so no death sentence for you! In fact I hope you will be bringing me entertainment for at least half a century...That's it, right? Yes that's it. Well, I have to go now, it's about to rain cabbages in Val Royeaux...No sense of humour, those Orlesians."

"Well, that was reassuring."

"Carver, is it wrong that I want to crawl into a hole and close it up behind me..."

"No, not at all, I kind of feel the same way myself."

"Oh, good."

#########

"Lady Webspinner...An honor."

"Webspinner...Oh, Akatosh, Arkay and Stendarr."

"I thank you not to mention those in my presence, young man, bunch of interfering busybodies that they are."

"My apologies, Lady."

"And how do you know about them, anyway. Aren't you supposed to be worshipping the Maker, like a good little mortal. But, oh, I see, a dragonborn, no two of them, here, now? Oh now I remember you two. Descendants of the one that blasted Alduin but good, aren't you? Well, well, isn't that interesting. And one of you carrying the Sanguine Rose, and the other the Wabbajack. I see I'll have to keep an eye on you two..."

"Carver, what is she talking about?"

"Don't ask Alistair, don't ask, please don't."

"We are here for the treaties, my lady, Morrigan said you had them."

"You are certainly a focused young lady aren't you. Here for the treaties I see, I see indeed, dragonborn wardens, what is the world coming to? Well, here they are. You may leave now. Morrigan show them out."

"Yes, Mother."

"Mother?"

"I don't want to know Carver, I really, really don't."

"Good point, you want company in that hole you were talking about?"

"The more the merrier brother."

"Marian, Carver, for the Maker's sake, what are you talking about? Who was she? Was she really a witch of the wilds? Do you know her? Why did you call her Lady Webspinner."

"Oh, okay Alistair, in order, you don't want to know; I'm not naming her so close to her dwelling place, she might decide to take even more of an interest; she is certainly no mere witch of the wilds, she's much worse; we've never met in person, but I know what her magic feels like; and it's one of her titles."

"Marian, that was not remotely helpful."

"Good."

#########

"Bloody hell, Carver, the Webspinner is in a little hut thataways, the blight seems like something Namira and Peyrite cooked up between them, the Templars stink of Molag Bal, the mages of Vaermina. Boethia and Dagon would have a field day here. And the Mad God showed up and don't think I forgot that Rose you are carting around with you..."

"Oh like you're one to talk."

"That's not what I mean! The Daedric Princes are playing silly buggers and it's freaking me the fuck out."

"That's no reason to get snippy."

"Oh hell, Carver, I'm sorry. Just, two Deadric Princes in a day is a bit much for my constitution."

"Delicate as it is."

"Har di har. Oh there's Duncan."

"Darkspawn blood here we come, eugh."

"Hey, how do you know about that, that's a Grey Warden secret."

"We're not complete idiots, Alistair. Talos' balls, what a day."

"That's my sweet sister."

"Shut up, Carver. Hello, Duncan, darkspawn blood and warden treaties as you asked."

"Duncan, they know about the Joining! And there was this witch in the wilds, and they knew her and they called her Lady Webspinner and they won't tell me how they knew and who she is, and, and..."

"Hush, Alistair. They were already going to become wardens, so it is not that important that they know, they are not the first in the history of the order to have guessed. We can talk about this witch after the Joining."

"But, Duncan..."

"Enough, Alistair. And you, Marian and Carver, I'll admit we wardens pay a heavy price to become what we are, and some of us may pay the price now rather than later. But you must understand, there is no going back, especially not for you who now know one of our secrets."

"We had that figured out, thank you, Duncan."

"Why couldn't the Mad Gods reassurances be more reassuring?"

"Carver?"

"Never mind, Duncan. Let's get on with this, why won't we?"

#########

"Is that Blackbriar Reserve? You've been holding out on me, Carver."

"To lighting the beacon in time and Shouting an Ogre from a parapet."

"I'll drink to that, brother. Not bad fighting today for a crazy Companion."

"Cheers, not bad yourself, for a lunatic battlemage, large scale destruction magic is certainly useful. How did the healings go?"

"Asshole Templars sent me away, bet they get a nasty surprise when they get to see ol' Molag in the next life."

"Ironic, certainly. I still can't believe my sister the big bad Destruction mage, is so well versed in the school of Restoration."

"Self defence, Carver, unfortunately Destruction magic includes a fair bit of blowing yourself up in practice."

"That's it. All mages are crazy, at least you're sensible enough to wear a suit of good solid armour. But Daedric? Really? That's a fortune right there."

"You're one to talk, mister Ebony armour, it's not like we're not both wearing a fortune, and anyway it's not like I paid for it. Found it in one of those old crypts, draugr burn really well, hah."

"Took mine of some kind of crazy Orc. Came at me all shouting and waving that warhammer of his. Died really easy, though...Good times"

"What, ho, Wardens. Glorious battle today, wasn't it. Shame the Archdemon wasn't here though."

"...Your Majesty..."

"May I ask what it is you're drinking Wardens? It doesn't look like anything I've seen before."

"It's mead Majesty, it's made of honey. May I offer you some."

"Why thank you Warden, certainly."

"Here you go Majesty."

*cough, cough*

"It's certainly bracing. I just remember I had some things to attend to. Well met, Wardens."

"Majesty..."

"Why Marian, did you just give His Majesty a bottle of the cheap 5 gold apiece rotgut mead."

"Carver, do you really think I'd give that unmitigated idiot the good stuff?"

"Eh...Marian."

"Teyrn Loghain, I didn't see you there, may I offer you something to drink?"

"I'll have what you two are having. Not being an unmitigated idiot."

"Er, yes. Here you go, sir."

"Thank you...while I'm here, could one of you explain how that Ogre ended up splattered on the ground at the bottom of the tower of Ishal."

"It fell, sir."

"I had gathered that Lady Warden. What I want to know is how it fell."

"Ah, you see, sir, when we entered the top level of the tower, I sent a ball of fire at the beacon to light it, the Ogre was so shocked by that, that it lost its footing and fell out of the tower, being so big and clumsy and all."

"I see...We will talk more later Wardens. Thank you for the mead."

"Niiice, Marian. That's not coming back to bite us in the ass. It's not like Alistair will keep his mouth shut."

"The Teyrn does have a sense of humour, didn't you see... And anyway, Alistair is only going to tell Duncan, and it's not like Duncan isn't keeping secrets already."

"And what will we tell Duncan then, sister dear."

"Excellent point, Carver, I hadn't gotten that far yet."

"Oh, lovely."

"I still have a bottle of Argonian Ale tucked away, want to share?"

"Oh hell, why not."

#########

"So Wardens, about that Ogre..."

"Yes, Duncan?"

"Alistair told me what happened, is there something you want to tell me?"

"Weell, no, not really."

"Marian..."

"Well, it was like this, we fought our way through the tower, with me being a fairly decent battlemage and my brother covering my back, that went quite rapidly, though I'm almost through my magicka potions...Oh, I suppose Alistair was there too. So we came to the top of the tower, and there was this Ogre, I threw a ball of fire to the beacon to light it, and the Ogre was so shocked, it stepped backwards, stumbled, lost its balance, and fell right out of the tower."

"Marian...I did speak to Alistair, he said you both shouted something and the Ogre went right out of the tower. I think I do have the right to know all of my wardens' skills. So what really happened?"

"Are you calling my sister a liar?"

"Carver..."

"What?"

"Wardens, the truth. Now!"

"Dibella's tits, Duncan, no need to get all pissy."

"Warden Marian!"

"Okay, okay...but the truth is kind of a long story, you sure you want to hear it?"

"Warden!"

"You sure, Marian?"

"Might as well, Carver, doesn't look like he's giving up. Okay, this all started a very long time ago when dragons ruled the world...don't give me that look, Duncan, this is relevant. What you need to know about dragons is that their language is interwoven with their ability to fight. When a dragon Shouts, that is Shout with a capital S, the power in his words has an offensive effect. For dragons there is no difference between an argument and a fight...clear? Yes, good...So most dragons ruled over humans, but some disagreed and these dragons taught humans to use the power of their voice as dragons do. For most humans this costs an enormous amount of practice, but for some it is different. Some humans are blessed by the chief of the gods Akatosh, who is said to be the father of dragons. These particular humans are born with the soul of a dragon...This is the kind of thing that tends to run in bloodlines, and we, that is Carver and me and our sister Bethany, are descended from a famous dragonborn who lived a few centuries ago. For dragonborn Shouts are easy to learn, and they, we, can absorb the soul of slain dragons to permanently kill them. The descent is through our father, and our ancestor had a means to pass on all his knowledge of Shouts easily to any of his children with the ability. So both the knowledge of Shouts and the way to pass them on are passed down through our family line. And that is what happened, we Shouted at the Ogre and pushed it off the tower."

"That seems..."

"A bit far-fetched, it's true though. You said you spoke with Alistair. And it's not like we grew up around here, mother is from Thedas, but father took us back to Tamriel when I was six and Carver and Bethany were four. We only came back recently, after father died. We would've been believed back there."

"And your sister?"

"Don't talk about Bethany!"

"Carver...Bethany fell in with a bad crowd, we don't talk about her. By the way, we would appreciate it if this was kept secret."

"I apologise, and I thank you for telling me this, I will keep your confidence. Can we speak more later?"

"Sure, Duncan."

"Then I will see you tomorrow, do you know the way to the warden encampment?"

"Yes, thank you, Duncan. Bye."

"Was that wise Marian?"

"He did have a point about needing to know our abilities, and it's not like I told him everything. I didn't even mention the Deadric Princes all over this mess."

"That does not make me feel better."

"It wasn't supposed to."

"Marian..."

#########

"Good Morning, Marian."

"Oh, hey Duncan, what can I do for you."

"I had a few questions about our talk last night."

"Ask away, do you need Carver here? He's out sparring but I can go find him."

"And then mysteriously disappear I take it, no, I'm sure you can answer me just fine."

"Okay, what do you want to know?"

"And you might even tell me the truth, hmm. You said you were born with the soul of a dragon and that you can absorb a dragon soul. Am I right in assuming you've figured out how Grey Wardens kill an Archdemon?"

"Yeah, that was pretty obvious, what with the darkspawn blood and all, and me knowing a bit more about dragons than the average person. But it would likely kill an ordinary Grey Warden, wouldn't it?"

"That is correct, it wouldn't kill you or Carver then?"

"I'm fairly sure it wouldn't. Being dragonborn is pretty good for dragon hunting, and an Archdemon is still kind of a dragon."

"You don't believe it's an old God then, the Archdemon?"

"Oh Gods no, it's a dragon, like any other dragon. But dragons were worshipped as gods by some people back in the olden days. The ones you call the old gods probably escaped the Tamrielic dragon hunts and ended up here. And then got killed, but as it wasn't dragonborn that killed them they didn't get killed completely, and I think that's when the darkspawn found them. And the rest is, as they say, history."

"And you weren't worried about being tainted like an Archdemon by the Joining? As you say you have the soul of a dragon?"

"We had it on good authority that we wouldn't. Well, mostly good authority, for a given value of good...He's nuts but he seemed to be truthful, and he turned out to be right."

"And who told you this, and how did he know warden secrets?"

"An old acquaintance, he gave me my staff as a matter of fact. And how he knows? Well, he just seems to know things, he comes and goes and I never had the guts to ask. He's really nuts, you know."

"I see..."

"I'm sure you do, Duncan. Anything else?"

"You mentioned your staff. I noticed your brother also carries around a staff, I haven't had time to ask before, but is he also a mage?"

"No, the staff was a gift, Carvers magical talent is minimal...Duncan, me and Carver, we don't use magic as you're used to, we don't draw from the Fade, only from inside us. I am a battlemage, I can do the big magics, Carver only uses some of the basic spells."

"You don't draw from the Fade?"

"No, I think we do magic in an entirely different way. But I also believe a Templar can't shut me down."

"That might turn out to be useful. Can you teach other wardens your way of doing magic?"

"Possibly, theoretically everyone should at least be able to do a minimum of magic. But I'm not sure how that turns out in practice."

"Well, that is for later. You also mentioned you had a sister. Would we be able to recruit her as well? Whole families in the Grey Wardens are unusual, but she would be extremely useful."

"Bethany...Bethany is complicated...She didn't inherit the ability to Shout, father believed she was an ordinary human. And like I said yesterday, she fell into some bad company..."

"And..."

"Really bad company, Duncan. I mean...Yeah, not good...She's in Thedas somewhere, doing gods know what, but she tends to creep even me and Carver out, when she's not acting at being a normal person."

"That doesn't tell me anything, Marian."

"Yeah, okay, don't tell Carver I told you...It's particularly sensitive for him. Bethany...she's a member of an organization called the Dark Brotherhood. They're a...well a guild of assassins really, with a particularly fucked up theology. They're fanatics, mostly, and Bethany is a true believer. It's well...it's unbelievably creepy to see that in your sister. But she is our sister, so if we see her we don't discuss it, but we worry...And Bethany is good at what she does, make no mistakes. She specialises in illusionary magics and what she can do is frankly terrifying. You won't see her until you've got a dagger in your back, or she simply turns your comrades on you, or clouds your mind, so you won't mind being killed...So, yes, just...That's why we don't talk about our sister."

"I'm sorry, Marian. Will we see you at lunch?"

"Probably, and thanks, Duncan...for, you know, understanding."

"It is no matter. Till later, Marian."

#########

"Hey, Carver. Good fight?"

"Bunch of milk drinkers, the lot of them. Stew?"

"Yeuch, do you know I'm even starting to miss burnt skeever."

"Yes, Fereldan cuisine could use some work."

"So, Carver...I told Duncan about Bethany."

"What!"

"Shh...I'm sorry Carver, but he wanted to recruit her."

"Recruit Bethany? Yeah, that would not go over well."

"No kidding. And Duncan is a hard man to lie to."

"Yeah, I suppose...I really don't want to talk about Bethany."

"Okay. I just figured you had a right to know."

"Marian, Carver. I'm glad to see you here."

"Hey, Duncan."

"I didn't get a chance to ask earlier...Carver, Marian said you're not a mage. But you're certainly carrying an unusual magical staff around."

"Yeah. I tried to get rid of it, it didn't take."

"I know how you feel, brother. I know how you feel"

"So..."

"I don't want to talk about it, Duncan. I haven't even discussed it with Marian."

"If he didn't ask about mine, I wouldn't ask about his...Staves, that is...Oh, that didn't come out right...You know what I mean."

"And the sentiment is much appreciated, sister."

"I take it your...staves...are special then."

"That's the understatement of the Age."

"Very special, Duncan. There are no other staves quite like them. But I'm sure Carver was drunk at the time."

"Funny, sister. That was quite the deduction, considering. I'd shut up before I go speculating about your...staff."

"It's a fine specimen, if somewhat erratic."

"Maker, Duncan...Marian, Carver. What are you talking about? No, wait. I don't want to know. I'm leaving now."

"But don't you want to take a closer look at my staff, Alistair?"

"That was mean, Carver."

"Sister, if he can't take a joke he shouldn't have joined. Or Joined even. Besides everything we said was true, it's not my fault he chose to take it the wrong way."

"Good point...Why are you looking at us like that, Duncan?"


End file.
